Global| Jul 03 2012U.S. Factory Inventories Decumulate
by:Tom Moeller
|in:Economy in Brief
Summary
Inventories in the factory sector fell 0.2%, as they did in April. That lessened the y/y rate of inventory accumulation to 3.5%, down from its 13.6% rate one year ago. Lower rates of inventory accumulation occurred across industries. [...]
Inventories in the factory sector fell 0.2%, as they did in April. That lessened the y/y rate of inventory accumulation to 3.5%, down from its 13.6% rate one year ago. Lower rates of inventory accumulation occurred across industries. Unfilled orders were essentially unchanged for the third straight month. The y/y gain fell to 8.2% from its high of 10.3% during all of last year.
Orders in the manufacturing sector recovered 0.7% (3.0% y/y) during May and reversed the barely revised April decline. Expectations were for no change. Durable goods orders increased 1.3%, little changed from last week's advance report. Nondurable goods orders (which equal shipments) inched up just 0.2% (1.5% y/y), the gain held back by an unchanged reading (2.1% y/y) for petroleum refineries. Shipments of textile products rose 1.3% (6.4% y/y) while food products shipments increased 0.8% (-2.4% y/y). These gains were offset by 0.4% declines in apparel (+4.8% y/y), paper products (-1.4% y/y) and basic chemicals (-2.4% y/y).
The factory sector figures are available in Haver's USECON database. The expectation figure is in AS1REPNA.
| Factory Sector - NAICS Classification (%) | May | Apr | Mar | Y/Y | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Orders | 0.7 | -0.7 | -2.1 | 3.0 | 11.8 | 18.0 | -23.1 |
| Shipments | 0.5 | -0.2 | 0.1 | 4.9 | 11.8 | 11.2 | -18.8 |
| Inventories | -0.2 | -0.2 | 0.1 | 3.5 | 9.4 | 8.8 | -6.8 |
| Unfilled Orders | -0.0 | -0.1 | 0.0 | 8.2 | 10.3 | 9.6 | -19.5 |
Tom Moeller
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Prior to joining Haver Analytics in 2000, Mr. Moeller worked as the Economist at Chancellor Capital Management from 1985 to 1999. There, he developed comprehensive economic forecasts and interpreted economic data for equity and fixed income portfolio managers. Also at Chancellor, Mr. Moeller worked as an equity analyst and was responsible for researching and rating companies in the economically sensitive automobile and housing industries for investment in Chancellor’s equity portfolio. Prior to joining Chancellor, Mr. Moeller was an Economist at Citibank from 1979 to 1984. He also analyzed pricing behavior in the metals industry for the Council on Wage and Price Stability in Washington, D.C. In 1999, Mr. Moeller received the award for most accurate forecast from the Forecasters' Club of New York. From 1990 to 1992 he was President of the New York Association for Business Economists. Mr. Moeller earned an M.B.A. in Finance from Fordham University, where he graduated in 1987. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from George Washington University.
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